New issue of OXM - Metal Gear Solid 5, free gift and more

48 hours with Metal Gear Solid 5

The Phantom Pain finally became that bit more tangible this month, as editor Matthew was black-bagged, whisked to a covert location (probably America) and given precisely two days to play as much as he could of Kojimas new and quite probably last Metal Gear game. After a shower and a debriefing (those things arent connected, gross), he wrote ten pages of thoughts about what looks to be something very special.

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Hands-on with Black Ops IIIs multiplayer

In the increasingly crowded world of eSports, even CoD needs to do something new to stand out. With defined characters and a new take on the series iconic shoot your friends mode, Black Ops III is making some of the most sweeping changes to the series in years. Having played it, were starting to agree that Treyarchs latest could shake up the multiplayer world, both professional and amateur.

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New directions in Assassins Creed Syndicate

Whether you liked it or not, theres no doubting that the last AC was a bit of a low-point in public perception of Ubisofts signature series. The new game tries to tackle that head-on, with a new London location, new gadgets, a pair of twins to play as, and the ability to run people over with a horse-and-carriage, fulfilling all our warped, Dickensian dreams. Having seen the game in action, weve got the lowdown on how Ubisoft is trying to unite its fans after Unity.

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How many Xbox One games can you get for 30?

The Xbox One just got a 30 price cut, making it as affordable as its ever been but any sensible person would have rigorously budgeted and set aside that extra cost. In this mini-feature, we look at the most cost-effective ways to spend that surplus, from buying only digital subscriptions, free-to-play games, used, digital and more. Also, Matthew insults his staff, which is nothing new, I guess.

Metal Gear. You can’t read those words without hearing the proto-Geralt gruffness of David Hayter’s Snake, and feeling the thrilling chill of excitement running through our veins (or is that all the nanomachines?). We might not be hearing the iconic voice actor return, but judging by our huge preview of The Phantom Pain, the excitement is well-founded.

Because we love you (and MGS), we’ve even plonked some brand new art on the magazine cover - delve inside the wallet you can see below and you’ll find a beautiful, film poster-like image, ripe with little details to be picked out and pored over.

But like any good Metal Gear game, there’s a twist – flip the magazine and you’ll find a second cover, heralding a huge piece on world-conquering machine sim and free-to-play beacon, World of Tanks. The game’s being revamped for Xbox One, with full cross-generational play no less, and we’ve got the low-down on how that’s being achieved.

Then there are all the reviews, covering the big (Wolfenstein), small (Shovel Knight) and life-destroyingly enormous (The Witcher 3) games of the last month. And the previews, one last look at the current Xbox One line-up before E3 comes to shake up our minds and schedules. Plus all the features, which you can see more on above, featuring at least one picture of a unicorn farting rainbows.

As if that wasn’t enough, we’ve thrown in a 20-page guide to the must-play Xbox One games of 2015 – there’s tonnes to look forward to, and we haven’t even reached E3.

You can buy the magazine in any shop worth its salt, buy the digital edition (with added audio commentary) by downloading the OXM app, or subscribe to either format here. Enjoy!